The Palaeozoic era was a time of major evolution and diversification of plants, as they adapted from aquatic to terrestrial habitats. This book covers the first 200 million years of the history of land evolution, showing how the main facets of vegetative evolution can be demonstrated at sites in Britain, and how the fossil record can be of value as an evolutionary and environmental indicator of the geological past, in general, as well as in Britain.

This is a companion volume to the already-published Palaeozoic Palaeobotany. The history of the changing environments and evolution of the plant groups is traced through the detailed descriptions of the 52 sites, indicating the rise of conifers and cycads in the Mesozoic and, in Tertiary times, the angiosperms (flowering plants) which began to predominate at the expense of earlier plant types.

This volume shows how reptilian evolution can be traced from Britain's fossil record and demonstrates how Britain's reptile sites can yield evidence indicating periods of extinction and diversification of the group.

This book gives a general outline of the classification and evolution of fishes from early Palaeozoic times to the present. It describes in detail the GCR sites in Britain from which important fish fossils have been obtained.

This volume addresses the evolution and diversity of a significant animal group. Arthropods – animals with jointed legs – have existed for over 500 million years and their evolutionary history is traced.